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1 December 2017

Copyright Opportunities in Challenges

Last night I had the honor to speak about Copyright Opportunities in Challenges to the Maryland Chapter of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). Below is a summary of my speech and slides.

Finding Copyright Opportunities in Challenges

I’ve spent much of my career demystifying copyright to nonlawyers. Librarians and information professionals are a major part of this audience. I’ve heard again and again that copyright issues are a major challenge in their day-to-day work. I’ve examined these challenges from several perspectives. In my speech, I presented them as opportunities. Then I asked the audience — and now you — to take the 2018 Copyright Challenge towards greater copyright compliance.

Copyright Challenges

In my speech I discussed copyright challenges such as answering questions like, May I email a PDF article from a licensed database? I point out the challenge of correcting copyright misinformation like, If it’s on the internet, it’s copyright free. Then I addressed how to find copyright opportunities in these challenges.

Your Copyright Opportunities

Copyright law isn’t always straightforward. You must address its nuances when applying your situations to the copyright law. Do you have a leader to do so? A copyright officer or copyright librarian? And I provided practical tips on how to lower your copyright infringement risks.

I asked the audience to think about copyright leadership in 2018. Who will lead the copyright issues in their libraries and organizations? I pointed out opportunities to take action on copyright and licensing issues. For example, create copyright guidelines. Let colleagues know you can answer their copyright questions.